Re: silvery sheen

Hello Christina,

Perhaps I've got everything conceptually wrong here. I thought you
sized paper if it was *too* absorbent, that the sizing would make the
sensitizer sit more evenly on the surface, and that too absorbent
papers would have prints with a low DMax? Mayhaps unsized Crane's is
fine and my negs are too flat. Perhaps its time to purchase a
densitometer after all. I'm going to make a list of the recommended
papers and give it a whirl.

No, it's definitley not bronzing. At least it isn't remotely brown.
It's a little silvery-glittery. Never seen it in a print before.

Thanks much,
Christine

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
"Crazy" is a term of art: "Insane" is a term of Law. Remember that, and
you will save yourself a lot of trouble.
      ~ Hunter S. Thompson

On Jan 7, 2004, at 11:45 PM, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:

>> Then about the silvering on the argyrotype... There may be no
>> connection,
>> but -- we found that VDB never silvered out when it wasn't heat
>> dried...
>> tho it often did (depending on paper and contrast) when it was heat
>> dried.
>> There was quite a literature on the papers that did & didn't "plate
>> out"
>> but it didn't happen when air dried at room temp.
>>
>> Though this problem may not be that problem, I realize.
>>
>> J.
>
> I'm puzzled by problems with argyrotype, since it was the easiest of
> all
> processes with me, almost brush n' go. However, I used absorbent
> papers,
> not sized ones, and I betcha Judy is right, that the solution is
> sitting on
> top of the surface instead of being absorbed enough before exposure.
> I used
> Rives, Buxton, vellum, and others and altho the Buxton was wonderful
> (less
> grainy than Rives), for the price it was not worth the hassle. Both
> papers
> are nicely absorbent, and I have never felt the need to size, and
> gotten
> very dark darks. My solution was exactly the same as...Christines'
> was it?
> And no added sulfamic. Is, btw, the silvering out a bronzing,
> perhaps, as
> appears in other processes? Anyway, go out and buy a sheet of Rives
> and
> give it a whirl.
>
> To get specific, Ware says sizing should be aquapel or alkyletene (sp)
> dimer
> sized.
> chris
>
>
Received on Thu Jan 8 11:20:11 2004